April 2009 Archives

Semi-random thoughts on Konami's decision not to publish "Six Days in Fallujah"

- This writer can't think of any other time when an entertainment company has pulled a controversial release before the public has had a chance to make an independent judgment.

For example, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was accused of being an anti-Semitic film well before the movie was released. But the movie was released, and people ( a lot of people) had a chance to buy a ticket and make up their own minds about Gibson's portrayal of the Gospels.

Sun photographer Gabriel Acosta mentioned "Collateral Damage," the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that had its release delayed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

That out of the way, there's a probably a good chance that some game publisher with a stomach for the controversy will pick up "Six Days in Fallujah." Instead of being just another video game, the title is now a news item. Gamers will want to play a game that now has the appeal of being forbidden and entertainment reporters in need of a story will have an excuse to write an article about "Six Days in Fallujah" and what the game means in the context of American society and the history of warfare.

If Konami's announcement wasn't a publicity stunt, it might as well have been.

- It's understandable that families of those slain in combat do not want to see video games made about actual conflicts, and video games still have a long way to go before that changes. Today's games are much more complicated than "Galaga," but it's doubtful that many people who do not play games have any idea that titles like "Fallout 3" or "Bioshock" force players to make tactical decisions that also have moral consequences within the game's storyline.

Maybe "Six Days in Fallujah" will prove to use technology to convey a "war is hell" message, or give Marines a chance to tell their combat stories from Iraq. Military histories and war movies already do this, but people watching "Saving Private Ryan" don't push a button on their remote control to fire Tom Hanks' submachine gun. People who didn't grow up playing video games are still likely to view "Six Days in Fallujah" and other video games as war porn, not as a narrative idiom.

- War-themed video games have often mirrored contemporary conflicts, and "Six Days in Fallujah" is not the first time an Iraq War scenario has been rendered in polygons. The Kuma'War series includes several scenarios derived from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The series debuted in February 2004 with a simulation of the mission that led to the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons.

Another example of a game that reflects the post 9/11 world is Command & Conquer Generals, a 2003 strategy game that let gamers play as or against three factions: the United States, China and the al Qaeda-like Global Liberation Army, which employed suicide tactics and poison weapons.

Cold War-era game designers sought to reflect geopolitics well before game technology allowed realistic graphics. Who hasn't played "Missile Command?"

Developer Zootfly had stirred up plenty of attention last year when a number of teaser trailers like this one made the rounds in showing off a prototype for a Ghostbusters game that they had hoped to make. That is, until they were unable to secure the license, a license that Sony would later award to Sierra Entertainment and Terminal Reality. Ironically, the excitement created by Zootfly's trailers had helped Terminal Reality sell the idea to Sony.

And now Zootfly have come up with an idea that could be just as cool, if not ripped from some alternate dimension forgotten by the Twilight Zone.

Brace yourselves for this one, A-Team fans...Mr. T goes to war against the Nazis!

I was digging through my vacation-packed e-mail and found the announcement from Bethesda Softworks about their plans to publish the action game WET for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The game is being developed by Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M).

The game's heroine is Rubi Malone, a super-assassin who rocks twin pistols and a samurai sword -- kind of a cross between The Bride from Kill Bill and Inspector Tequila from Stranglehold.That's kind of the impression I'm getting from the game in general, judging from the trailers and shots full of bullet-time and blood. The skeptical part of me wants to just pull out Stranglehold and call it a day, but we'll see.

The Malone character's voice is handled by Eliza Dushku, the star of "Dollhouse" on Sci-Fi. The game is slated for a fall release. Oh, and please be mindful of the trailer -- you've got tons of blood and a 12-letter word at the end. Consider yourself warned.

The controversy following Atomic Games' FPS based off of the Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq has made Konami think twice about publishing the game under its label according to Japanese newspaper, Asahi, MCV reports. Development on the game hasn't officially ended, however, and Atomic Games has yet to issue their own response to the news as well as answer questions regarding the future of the title.

On a more personal note, was it too soon or is this another case of where games have run into the transparent wall separating them from the respectability that film and books enjoy?

After much speculation and conversation, today is the day that I can confirm that "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" will have multiplayer. I can also confirm that the multiplayer is a heck of a lot of fun.

I was among the first people outside developer Naughty Dog to get to play the sequel to the 2007 PlayStation 3 exclusive "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune," and the new game builds on the success of the original. Naughty Dog unveiled "Uncharted 2" at a press event in Hollywood last week, and I've been itching to talk about it ever since.

It sounds improbable, but a www.Kotaku.com reader has sent in some pictures of Best Buy pre-order pace holders that suggest those willing to partake in the pre-order process will be rewarded with not just the Infamous demo, but also an Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta.

Volition has released a demo for their mega-demolition FPS, Red Faction: Guerilla, for the console crowd and being the curious sort, I downloaded the Xbox 360 version which proceeded to blow my expectations out of orbit with a mass driver. PC players have, so far, been left out of the goodness even though the game is coming out for that platform, too.

But the promises? They're true. They really are. The whole destructibility thing is absolutely, without question, awesomely fun.

Gametrailers have the exclusive first dibs on the opening cinematic to the upcoming Ghostbusters game penned by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis, showing off an explosive beginning at the museum that made them famous.

And yes, Ray Parker Jr.'s theme song is in the house. Check it out.

Yahoo has recently updated their Geocities page with the following statement:

After careful consideration, we have decided to close GeoCities later this year. We'll share more details this summer. For now, please sign in or visit the help center for more information.

As the web grew by leaps and bounds during the nineties, GeoCities stood out as one of the many promising icons of the dot-com bubble that made checkbooks salivate at the thought of where it could take their dividends on Wall Street. This was before the 'net became a new paradise for porn and the term "net neutrality" inspired cable ISPs to advertise against the perceived evil that it might bring.

Yahoo eventually bought into the dream at a cool $3.6 billion and promptly began annoying its own users by implementing forced ads. And if you think MySpace pioneered obnoxious applets driving someone's idea of music into your speakers and then blinding your eyes with gangsta wallpaper, then you haven't seen what GeoCities had allowed into the wild during those early years.

To be fair, not all of it was bad and, most importantly, it was free and open to anyone that wanted to stake out their own piece of digital real estate. But I couldn't help but dread whenever a link would take me there and wonder if that Quake II map was worth going the extra distance.

Unfortunately, with the explosion of popular social sites available to 'net savvy tourists today, GeoCities' limited appeal has apparently dwindled to the point where even Yahoo has decided to finally pull the plug, closing another chapter from the early days of the web.

Like the Consumer Electronic Show back in January, manufacturers are producing 3D technology. Panasonic displayed a 3D camera and opened a 3D theater. JVC again coming up to the plate with a 46-inch 3D LCD Monitor for professionals to check 3D video products.

JVC's other toy was the GY-HM700 at just 8 pounds, the camera is a videographers dream. 3 CCD HD system with a Cannon 14:1 lens which is included. The HM700 has three 1/3 inch progressive CCD's, records to dual SDHC memory cards and also to on an optional SxS adapter. A huge 4.3 LCD panel with alternative eye viewfinder, 14X Canon HD lens, 35Mpbs encoding for MPEG2 or MOV. The camera is equipped with 2 XLR inputs which you can record at 16/48 bit. Straight to edit video, video clips can be opened in Final Cut Pro, Avid, Adobe and Canopus.

Aside from the news that Obsidian and Bethesda have teamed up to create a new Fallout adventure, New Vegas, screenshots that drop off a few hints as to what fans can expect from the latest DLC for Fallout 3, Broken Steel, have also made it into the wild.

Along with the pics, more info concerning what players will have to look forward to have also been leaked:

• Level cap moved from 20 to 30 with new perks added in
• New weapons, including something called a "tri-laser" and the ominous Tesla Cannon
• Battle across the DC Wasteland against the forces of the Enclave
• New monsters including the Ghoul Reapers and a new Super Mutant

It sounds like there will be plenty to keep players busy over the four to five hours of estimated playthrough for the DLC and with new toys, quests, and perks, it could be a lot of fun.

The Pitt might have given me pause, but Broken Steel sounds like it could sweep the problems I had with it far behind me.

More pics after the jump!

Speed, portability and in a compact design the HM100U is a great camera for the backpack journalist or an average family that loves shooting soccer games.

The HM100U has three ¼ inch progressive CCD's, twin memory card slot's for the widely available SDHC memory cards. A widescreen 2.8 display with alternative eye viewfinder, 10X Fujinon HD lens, 35Mpbs encoding for MPEG2 or MOV. The camera is equipped with 2 XLR inputs which you can record at 16/48 bit. Straight to edit video, video clips can be opened in Final Cut Pro, Avid, Adobe and Canopus.

JVC showcased two new pro video cameras the compact GY-HM100U and it's big brother, well actually it's 8 pound cousin, the GY-HM700.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, perhaps best known for his support of same-sex marriage - whether you like it or not - has announced that he's running for governor.

And his Web site reports that he used Twitter to make his big announcement.

"Today, I am announcing, via Tweet, my candidacy for governor because California needs a new direction," is the word on Newsome's home page. This reporter now wants to know if Earl Warren, Pat Brown or Ronald Reagan ever used the word "tweet" to announce their gubernatorial campaigns.

Another question: Will any San Bernardino County or California politicians ever get busted for accidentally Tweeting bad behavior? Who will be the first politico to brought down by a "smoking gun memo" in the form of a Tweet?

The Tweet announcement isn't that surprising, seeing as other gubernatorial candidates have followed the leads of 2008's presidential candidates and embraced social networking technology.

Democrats Newsome, Jerry Brown and John Garamendi all have Facebook presences, as do Republicans Tom Campbell, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman.

Garamendi and Brown also submitted entries in the "25 things" fad that spread through Facebook a few months ago. The candidates and others who participated listed 25 random notes about their lives.

Here is an excerpt from Brown's list:

6. My official portrait as Governor was quite controversial and the legislature refused to hang it. My Father said if I didn't get a new one, I could never run again. It is now hanging and I am still running.

And one from Garamendi's:

3. Patti and I lived without running water and electricity in a mud hut for two years while serving in Peace Corps in Ethiopia.

A friend of mine alerted me to this leaked footage of the new Wolverine flick. Enjoy.

Vin Diesel has a place in my gaming heart. Not because I was that enthralled with his fictional street racing exploits or hijinks as a souped-up super agent -- but because he was part of the first movie-related game I played that wasn't a flaming ball of rehashed "play the movie" garbage.

A few years ago, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay for the original Xbox seemed to get a better reception than the film to which it was tied.
With the full backing of its bankable star and executive producer, "Butcher Bay" rode its formula of movie-free story, visual personality and melee combat to critical acclaim.

Now comes the follow-up for the 360 and PS3, Assault on Dark Athena, which comes out with no movie behind it, but the same support system of star and developer. It's also got the same formula, which works beautifully for the most part, but doesn't have quite the same impact as its predecessor.

...and it looks incredibly amazing. I can't help but think, though, that before Phantasy Star decided to go the route that it did and went another way instead, the heavily industrialized and sci-fi tinted world of FFXIII might have been the result.

The demo was given out with the blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete in Japan on the 16th (their time) and it didn't take long for this to hit the 'net afterwards thanks to an enterprising fan. However, it's not the final build of the game that we'll be seeing, but one based off of an older version instead.

At least, that's what Square Enix has said according to info gleaned from Final Fantasy fansite, Final Fantasy Union, who go on to basically say that the demo...as incomplete as it has been made out to be...was simply added to the blu-ray release in order to boost sales.

Still, the footage is amazing stuff for any Final Fantasy fan hungry to see anything on the game. Marketing ploy or not, one could say that it has served its purpose by getting plenty of Final Fantasy fanatics debating every detail revealed within it from the sci-fi look of the series to the already-dubbed "Chocofro" of one of the characters.

So be sure to pull up a chair and get ready for nearly fifty or so minutes of footage broken up across five videos, the first of which is below and the rest are linked after the jump. And there's one more tantalizing piece of info: at the end, a release date of Winter 2009 is revealed, although that is likely to pertain to the Japanese PS3 release date.

It's still good stuff but be warned: subtitles not included.

What do you get when you combine a small, portable camera with the skills of an athlete? You might get something like what you are about to see on Youtube where someone takes the game to another level. Seriously impressive. It probably should go without saying to not try any of this at home unless you happen to be this guy.

They'd look something like what the people at the Live Granades blog had in a post titled "If Christians Made Videogames like We Make Shirts." You must see this and feel the power yourself. Be sure to leave your arrow on the picture to see the sweet captions.

Personally, I'm all about "God of Love." If Jesus is rocking the pitchfork in the game, I am SO upgrading the crap out of it. Eat it, Blades of Chaos.

Check out the blog entry and pics right here.

And not the kind that EA had sent out, even if they were brass.

Namco Bandai have released a slew of new screenshots and art renders celebrating the planned upcoming release of Tekken 6 in the Fall giving console brawlers on the 360 and the PS3 something new to scrap over.

The newest iteration of the fighting franchise will be packed with everything from the arcade version plus a raft of enhancements courtesy of "the Bloodline Rebellion" update that it had received in December of '08. Assuming that players will finally be exhausted from beating each other senseless in Street Fighter IV by the time it comes out, Tekken 6 will be stepping into the ring to keep the adrenaline flowing into every character listed on its massive roster and throughout each multi-tiered stage, day or night, off or online.

Check the rest of them out below.

Not long ago, game journalist Dean Takahashi got a huge duffel bag full of goodies from Microsoft when they were promoting Halo 3. However, if I remember correctly, I don't think they sent him any actual weapons. That would be strange, right?

Well, EA broke on through to the other side when they sent out brass knuckles to game writers to promote Godfather 2.

And now ... they want them back. Mostly because sending something like that to people is BAD. As in, illegal. Check out the story here.

For the record, we at Tech-Out were never cool enough to receive the weapons.

As you can see from the above picture, it looks as if the playable big daddy from the sequel to the spectacularly popular franchise is going to be leaner, faster and skinnier. I like the cage for the little (big) sister too.

It looks as if a poster on Ubisoft's official forums has managed to get their hands on a message that includes details on the upcoming sequel to Ubisofts 2007 action game. The message has now been deleted.

The post which contained information to be published in the May issue of Game Informer magazine, reveals a plethora of information on Assassin's Creed 2, some of which was hinted at in the recent teaser trailer.

I was peeking around the wires and saw this, a couple hours late to the party.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Barbara Ortutay
AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Will Wright, the video game designer behind such hits as "The Sims" and "Spore," is leaving game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. after 12 years.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts said Wednesday that Wright is departing to run Stupid Fun Club, a company Wright started in 2001 to develop new forms of entertainment like video games, movies and even toys.

"The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change," Wright said in a statement. "Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms."

Yes, Shadow of the Colossus is to be given the Hollywood treatment. The team ICO game that took the critical world by storm back in 2005, wowing gamers with it's minimalist landscapes, subtle plot and enormous antagonists, is being adapted for the big screen.

Producer, Kevin Misher (The Scorpion King, Public Enemies, The Interpreter) Is in charge of the project, with Young script writer Justin marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-LI) having the unenviable job of creating a script. No director has yet been mentioned.

Assassin's Creed fans will remember the Animus project and Ubisoft has put together a teaser site for the sequel based around the name, providing tantalizing hints as to what is going to be revealed later this month on the 16th in Game Informer. A few interesting images are shown in succession, providing plenty of da Vinci inspired sketches hinting that the next adventure may take place in Renaissance Italy.

Hopefully the next game will have more unique opportunities in exploring the world and less of the repetition, but any chance to head back into one of Ubisoft's visually stunning sets is always something to look forward to.

Chess may have been used in the past to teach war strategy where the winning move would change history, but psychologists are ready to release a study later this month whose results claim that gaming with others may rub off into real-life outside of the screen.

Listening to the verbal cesspool that is Xbox Live! may say otherwise, but as gamers that live and thrive in multiplayer know, working together as a team to survive the next Locust wave on Gears of War 2 or patching up friendlies in Team Fortress 2 can make all of the difference in winning or losing. And now it looks like it may actually mean more than an in-game achievement.

The main article follows below.

A little late to the party, but I finally found some time to let you know about one other April Fools entry that tickled my funny bone. In this one, Konami introduces the newest character to arrive for MGS4 multiplayer. Get ready, because he's as Solid as they come.

Have you been fooled yet? If you haven't, you might want to take a look at how some of our favorite developers have tried to pull a fast one on their fans.